U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,213, Laramore, discloses a vacuum system for dusting floor to allied bakery products as they are being transferred from a dough dividing and rounding machine to an aging and panning machine.
The present invention relates to a broadly similar dusting flour recycling system which constitutes an improvement on the prior patented system, in terms of increased efficiency of operation, greater versatility of usage and increased economies resulting from the use of the invention in high production bakery facilities, such as those producing hamburger and hot dog rolls, and the like.
More particularly, the advantages derived from the installation and operation of the dusting flour recycling system according to the present invention include, among others:
(1) Reclaims a greater quantity of clean reusable flour, up to approximately 13 pounds per hour for a single installation of the system.
(2) The virtual elimination of unhealthy flour dust from the air of the commercial bakery in which the invention is installed and used.
(3) Greatly improved sanitation throughout the bakery in contrast to heavy contamination of exposed surfaces with flour when no recycling system is used.
(4) Major reduction in labor costs for clean-up operations, and much less frequent cleaning of premises required.
(5) System has the capability of eliminating dusting flour on the bottom surface of the finished product as well as on all other exposed surfaces.
(6) The use of the system greatly extends the life of the baking pan glaze by preventing contamination of the glaze with flour, later to become baked on the pans.
(7) System thoroughly filters the reclaimed flour, making it ready for reuse in the dusting of bakery products.
(8) The vacuum system can be located remotely (80 feet or more) from the product line without the flour settling out in the pipe connecting the vacuum system with the head which spans the top of the sheeted product conveyor line.